


The Night She'll Never Forget

by morewinepls



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Other, Police Brutality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 07:12:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7748107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morewinepls/pseuds/morewinepls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Polly tells about the night her children were taken away.</p>
<p>-Please mind the warnings. I do not wish to trigger anyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Night She'll Never Forget

“Pol, put the fucking gun, down!”

She was standing there, tears streaming down her face as she pointed the gun at Tommy’s face. Her hands were trembling, causing her finger to tremor against the trigger. The family was there. Arthur, Tommy, John, Ada, Finn, Esme… Even bloody fucking Curly was there. The idiot had no idea what to do.  
  


The rest probably didn’t know either.

 

“Give me the FUCKNG ADDRESS TOMMY!”  
  


Everything hurt. Mind and body. How dare he tell her that her son was alive but that she couldn’t see him. How dare he?!  
  


“Polly sit the fuck down!” It was Arthur. They all were yelling at her, trying to calm her, but none of them dared to touch her. Not when she was like this.  
  


“Polly.” It was Tommy’s calm voice. “I know you’re upset-” she clutched the gun tighter at his words. “-but if you shoot me, you’ll never know. So put the fucking gun down.”

She took the gun with two hands now, stepping forwards and pressing the barrel against his shoulder.  
  


“I can bloody shoot you and you will bloody talk.” She hissed. “Tell me where he is.”  
  


“No. No Pol. Don’t you see?!” He stood, causing her to stumble slightly at the sudden movement. She steadied herself and pointed the gun again. “If you go to the boy when you’re like this, you’ll scare him. His mother won’t let you see him. She’ll get a restraining order when you come blazing with a gun.”

 

“I’M HIS MOTHER!” Polly screamed, more tears falling down. Her chest was heaving, body trembling. “I’m his fucking mother.”  
  


“We know you are.” John said quickly. He was holding Ada, who was crying. Karl was crying, too, bundled against her chest. “But you need to calm down, Pol. Right now. Michael will want to see you. But not like bloody this.”  
  


“FUCK!” Polly fired the gun, but her trembling caused the bullet to only graze Tommy’s shoulder. “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!”  
  


The brunette threw the gun on the floor before bending over and swiping half of the table’s content on the floor. Taking the opportunity, John and Arthur grabbed their aunt while Ada handed Karl to Finn and walked over to Tommy, who was clutching his arm.  
  


“Let me go! Let me fucking go, you bastards! You bloody fucking bastards, let me go!” Polly was trashing against them, using her teeth and nails and feet and elbows but they were stronger than she was.  The aunt was openly sobbing now. Wails that were a mix between screams and curses left her mouth, making the others’ ears hurt.  
  


“Aunt Pol.” It was John. “Pol, please.”

 

“LET ME GO!” she kneed Arthur in his crotch and he released her. She didn’t make a move to run, like they expected her to. Instead she dropped to the floor, letting out a long, hoarse scream. The brunette clutched her head, bending over and digging her nails into her scalp.  
  


The Shelbys looked at each other. They’d never seen their aunt like this.  
  


“Don’t take him from me.” She whimpered, rocking herself. “Please don’t. Not again.”  
  


“Aunt Pol-”  
  


“Oh, shut up.” Ada tied the bandage tightly around Tommy’s wound before kneeling in front of Polly. She didn’t touch the woman.  
  


“Polly.” Ada began softly. “No one’s taking him. I promise.”  
  


“What the hell is she talking about?” Arthur whispered to Tommy. He shrugged. He had a feeling that Ada knew something about his aunt that none of them knew. He thought that Polly had given them up for adoption. She was barely able to take care of them, after all. He had heard his aunt talk to his mother on many occasions. About how she couldn’t deal with the kids. About how she thought her husband was going to kill them all. About how the children would be better off with a better family. Tommy, and his brothers, too, had just taken that for the truth when their father had told them as much while Polly was nowhere to be found. He’d never confronted her about it, though. Now he wished that he had.  
  


Polly was still sobbing, her body wracking by the force. Ada put her arms around her aunt and helped her up. But before they were even standing, Polly pushed the Shelby sister away and stumbled against the wall, where she tried to steady her breathing. Once she did so, she took the long pin from her hair and pointed it in front of her.  
  


“Elizabeth Gray, you calm the FUCK DOWN!” Polly’s eyes snapped open and she looked at Tommy, who was glaring at her. She held his eyes for a moment before another agonizing scream left her mouth.  
  


“Don’t you dare. DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE CALL ME THAT!” She started for him again, but Arthur tackled her and jumped on top of her, pinning her down by her frail wrists.  
  


“G-get off. Get off. Get. Off.” She was trying to kick him. To hit him and to scratch him, but she was completely to his mercy.  
  


“Pol. Calm your fucking shit.” He spat, taking the pin from her and handing it to John, who put it away. “You could have killed Tommy.” He hissed. “He’s trying to bloody help you and you shoot him. Are you fucking insane?”

 

“Arthur.” Tommy said warningly.  
  


“Point is, if you don’t calm down, you’re going to push me to things I don’t want to do. Because we all love you, Pol. We do. So when I let you go, you’re going to stay calm. No screaming. No fighting. Calm. You hear me?”  
  


“Get off.” She spat, but didn’t move. When Arthur didn’t either, Polly’s breathing became laboured.  
  


“Art, get off of her.” Tommy said urgently. “Now, Arthur.”  
  


The oldest Shelby brother scrambled off of his aunt, who sat up, body doubling over. A fresh portion of tears streamed down, leaving her choking on her sobs.  
  


“I just want to see him.” She whispered. “My son. My sweet Michael. Please Tommy. PLEASE!”  
  


She got up, unsteady on her feet, and stumbled into Tommy’s arms. The man winced when his aunt put pressure on his wound.  
  


“Please, Thomas.” She whimpered. “My son. Your nephew. He’s family. A- A Shelby.”  
  


“Right now his name is Henry Johnson. When he’s eighteen, he’ll be Michael Shelby-Gray. But now- right fucking now- you’re not his mother.”  
  


Polly kneed him in the stomach. Tommy keeled over, grunting as he hit the floor.  
  


“Pol?!” Ada grabbed her from behind and Polly grew chalky pale and quiet.

 

“…Polly?”            “Aunt Polly?”              “Pol, are you alright?”                “Does she look fucking alright?”

 

The brunette didn’t respond anymore, She just kept staring at the floor, swaying slightly.  
  


“Oh bloody hell.” Arthur mumbled, scratching his moustache.  
  


Polly’s eyes were glassed over, her face impassive. She wasn’t blinking either.  
  


“What’s she doing?” Finn asked, scared. “Tommy, what’s wrong with aunt Pol?”  
  


“Nothing, boy.” He sighed. “You can go and help Curly with the horses.”  
  


Dumb as he is, Curly understood the message and led the boy to the stables. Esme joined them with a pained look at her husband. Whatever thoughts Polly was lost in, they couldn’t be good.  
  


The boys had seen this behaviour with comrades during and especially after the war. Doctors called it Post Traumatic Stress. But Polly was so _strong._ She got a bullet many times already. She’d been arrested. Beaten, even. Sure, she’d have the occasional panic attack. But this? No, this was new. To them at least. God knows they’d suffered some of their flashbacks in silence. Maybe Polly had done the same? It would make sense, seeing that the woman wouldn’t even want them to see her cry.  
  


“Polly, wherever you are, it’s over. You’re safe now.” Tommy said, kneeling down in front of the brunette. “You’re with your family in Birmingham. You’re safe, Polly. No one’s going to hurt you, okay. It’s all okay. You’re okay.”  
  


But Polly didn’t react. Instead she whimpered, hands trembling so hard that he had to try several times to lace his fingers through hers.  
  


“Get the fuck away.” Ada hissed. “Tommy, step back.”  
  


Tommy hesitated but did as his sister said. She knew more than he did, no matter how much he loathed that idea.  
  


“Ada, what’s going on with Pol. What happened?”  
  


“I.. Don’t know all of it. But Tommy, what do you remember about Anna and Michael?”  
  


“They were wee little kids. Big lungs. Were gone one day. I always assumed Pol couldn’t handle them anymore with her husband and gave them to the church so they could go to better homes. At least that’s what father told us. Why? What really happened to them?”  
  


“They were taken.” Ada whispered, not tearing her eyes from the aunt. “Forcefully. Because a neighbour saw sheets that were stolen from a hotel. I don’t even know if Pol was responsible. But the police came and searched the house. Aunt Pol said that they smashed the place. They found a barrel then. Ya know, one they use to make fire. For that only they came back later that night and more I don’t know. Polly refused to say more. S-she was drunk when she told me.” She shook her head.  “She never wanted her children to be taken away, Tommy.”  
  


“But father s-”  
  


“Does it really fucking matter now?” Ada snapped. “Pol is reliving god know what exactly but it can’t be bloody pleasant.”  
  


Tommy just nodded and whispered something in Arthur’s ear. The eldest frowned but understood. Taking the pin that Polly had taken from her hair, he pushed the tip into her arm. When he got no response, he pushed deeper.  
  


“What the bloody fuck are you doing?!” Ada screamed while trying to shush Karl.  
  


“Waking her up.”  
  


“You’re piercing her muscle and it’s not fucking working! John, get some bloody water.”  
  


The boy came back not much later with a bucket and poured it over the aunt, who immediately gasped for air, shooting upright. Arthur pulled the pin from her arm first, earning a sharp wince. He threw the wretched thing on the floor.  
  


Ada was holding Pol’s shoulders gently, trying to catch her gaze.  
  


“You’re safe, Polly. You’re safe.” Ada whispered, giving a small smile. Polly frowned and shook her head in confusion. She then looked around. The place was a mess. She saw Tommy’s bleeding arm and put a hand in front of her mouth.  
  


“What did I do?”  
  


“You kind of lost it, aunt Pol.” Arthur said. “Shot Thomas.”  
  


Everyone but Polly shot the eldest a look which shut him up effectively.  
  


“I’m alright, Pol. Promise.” Tommy assured her with a smile. But to be honest, he was quite terrified. He’d never seen her like this. So…Unnerved.  
  


“Polly.” Ada prompted. “What happened?” The older woman only shook her head and lit a cigarette with trembling hands. Silent tears fell down and she looked positively ill.  
  


“Polly.” Ada tried again. “Please. We want to help.”  
  


“He can help.” She said, voice raspy from the screaming and sobbing she’d done. She looked at Thomas. “Tommy can help. Bring me to my son.”  
  


“Aunt Pol. Come on. You know you have to wait.”  
  


“It’s bloody unfair that you saw him before I did. My own son. My only child. What if something happens before he’s eighteen? What if I knew he was alive but I’d never be able to see him because my own fucking nephew won’t allow me to see my own flesh and blood.”  
  


“I want you to meet him, Polly!” Tommy exclaimed. “But the woman he calls his mother won’t allow it. He’s still a minor.”  
  


“Does he even know I exist? Does he know, Thomas? Does my Michael know that he’s adopted?!”  
  


“Yes, Pol! He does. He fucking does because I told him. I told him that you’re his real mother and I gave him your address. But his mother-”  
  


“I’M HIS MOTHER.”  
  


“-His current mother took it so you’ll have to fucking wait. I can’t help it.”  
  


Polly shook her head and threw her cigarette on the floor.

  
“I have the right to see him. I birthed him. I carried him for eight months and fucking seven days. I fed him and I cared for him and I loved him and I sung him to sleep the night they took him a-and I-”  
  


A harsh sob sent her crashing back to the floor.  
  


“My daughter is dead. But my son isn’t. But you’re FUCKING KEEPING HIM FROM ME!”  
  


Arthur and John helped Polly up but held her back before she could do anything rash.  
  


“THEY TOOK MY CHILDREN BECAUSE MY JEALOUS NEIGHBOUR COULDN’T LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE.” Polly screamed. “And I think about them all the time. They’re in my dreams and in my nightmares and in my heart a-and in my mind but they are not fucking with me. Anna will never be again but Michael will. But you won’t allow me. Do you really think that I would scare my son away? My sweet son.”  
  


“He was five when he was taken away from you, Pol. Old enough to remember you. He knows that the woman he’s living with isn’t his real mum. He bloody fucking knows.”  
  


“Y-You think he remembers when he was taken?”  
  


Thomas nodded slowly. “He was five, Pol. Of course he does.”  
  


Polly’s sharp intake of breath promised no good. She turned even paler, closing her eyes as she wrenched herself from the brothers’ grasps. She paced a bit, then swayed, and then rushed to the small sink to vomit.  
  


All eyes were on her shaking form. They knew she would speak soon. She always did after she was done raging. They weren’t quite sure if they even wanted to know, though. If something like this could make the great, fierce Elizabeth Gray physically ill just by thinking of it, it had to be bad.  
  


Once she was done dry heaving, Ada helped the woman onto the couch and lit a cigarette for her, which she greedily accepted.  After retrieving the medical kit for Tommy, everyone else sat down, too. They waited until Pol was ready to speak while Ada properly cleaned the graze.  
  


It took about twenty minutes and eight cigarettes before Polly spoke. It had been silent for those twenty minutes, safe for Polly’s occasional whimper and sniffing.  
  


“You know.” She began, not even bothering to wipe her eyes. “They both adored you all. Admired you. Michael especially. And Anna-” Her voice broke and she looked at Ada. “- wanted to be just as pretty as you were.”  
  


“If I ever come across that pitch-faced bitch of a neighbour, I will tear her throat out with my bloody nails.” Polly whispered in a low, raspy voice. She lit another cigarette and took a moment to gather her thoughts.  
  


“I don’t… I don’t want to tell you this.”

 

“Then don’t.”  John said. “Yes, we’d love to know what happened to them. Especially now we know that father lied to us about what happened to them. But if you’re not ready, you’re not ready, aunt Pol. We respect that, right guys?” They all agreed and Polly shook her head.  
  


 “Your father’s a bloody bastard. He knew what happened. But all he cared about what his petty fight with me and humiliated me by telling everyone that I couldn’t handle my own children, and sold them to the church.”  
  


“Then why did you never tell anyone what really happened?” Arthur asked softly.  
  


“I was young. And in my day, no one would have believed me. A woman had even less rights than they have now. Your father could do what he wanted and I couldn’t even tell anyone I was pregnant when I was sixteen because I’d be considered a whore.”  
  


Polly spat out the words. She was clearly lost in her head again. It seemed like she wasn’t even aware that they were in the room, as if she was just talking to herself.  
  


“No one would believe me if I said that he had been my first, and that he had taken me by force. I was a disgrace to the family, and my brother, your father, made sure everyone knew.  I tried to be discreet. Grabbing knitting needles and taking care of it. Getting rid of it myself.”  
  


Ada remembered her conversation with Polly back when she had found out when she was pregnant with Karl. But now it seemed even more surreal. Pol was reliving it in her head while she spoke to them.  
  


“I wish they’d just let me die. I should have locked the fucking door!” She threw the ashtray on the floor with an angry yell. It shattered, showering glass over their feet. “I should have locked the door.” She repeated in a whisper. “But they had to take me to a hospital to stop the bleeding. Said it would be a miracle if I wasn’t infertile.”  
  


“Pol-”                   “Shut up.”

 

“But I wasn’t. Three years later and I was pregnant. A gypsy had told us it would be a boy. It probably saved my life.”  
  


“What do you mean?” Ada whispered. Polly snapped out of her trance and shook her head.  
  


“My husband. Your uncle Michael, was a nice person. Sweet eyes and a kind smile.” She smiled sadly, even more tears threatening to fall. “But only when he was sober. He rarely was. When drunk, he would get mad easily, beating me and using my body for his own pleasures. I loved him, still. When I found out I was pregnant I’d just turned nineteen. Michael was thrilled. So he would take me to a gypsy to see what the gender was. And I had prayed, every night for weeks, that it would be a boy. He’d kill us both if I didn’t give him an heir to his company. Girls were useless after all.” Something dark crossed her eyes.  
  


“But it was a boy. And for those long, eight months, he left me alone. He was sweet and almost always sober. I fell in love again. And I like to believe that he loved me, too. But only days after little Michael was born, it started all over again. When Anna was born it only got worse. I feared for our lives. He swung with knives, he did. And no one was there to stop him. So I fled.”  
  


Everyone was hanging onto her every word. Polly rarely spoke about herself. It should worry them, really. That she was opening up to them. But at the moment they didn’t care. It was clear that their aunt needed to vent and they would gladly listen. They wanted to learn about the woman that helped raising them and their family name.  
  


“So I lived on my own with Anna and Michael. People judged me. Called me a whore. Called my children bastards but no word was spoken about my husband. No one spoke about what monster he was. Why would they? Michael Gray was a respected man in the community.  
  


Then, as you know, as the children grew older, we started to spend more time with you. I needed help. I had to find a job but needed someone to look after my sweetlings. So your mother did. Your father: my brother, he hated me for it. Said I was only burdening them. Maybe I was, but I was at my wit’s end.  
  


So I found a job as a seamstress. It barely paid, and the supervising men had got loose hands with us women. But I needed money.”  
  


“Did.. Did they ever-?”  
  


“Not them, no. Though they did try.” Polly shook her head and looked at Tommy. “When they came for us, we were at home. Just us three. We didn’t have any coppers on our payroll. Not like you do, Tommy. If we had, it might have been avoided. But we were poor. I could barely feed my own family at night. But I loved them with all I had. I was good to them, wasn’t I?”  
  


Everyone solemnly agreed. It was true. It had always amazed them all how their aunt could cry to their mother but then put on a smile and give her utter devotion to her children. She did truly love them.  
  


“And they didn’t have it all bad, did they? Families were off much worse than mine. So why did they tear mine apart and not theirs? Why was I considered a danger to my children but the fathers taking their daughters were not?!” Another wail escaped the brunette and she buried her face in her hands.  
  


“I'll never be able to forget that night... It was way past midnight when they came. I had come home to a destroyed house and went to your mother to collect little Anna and Michael. When I got back to our house, I gave them dinner and put them in bed before cleaning up the best I could. A-And I might have been drinking after they’d gone to bed, but doesn’t everyone have a drink after work? I wasn’t even halfway up the stairs when they broke down the door. They were with so many.” Polly whimpered and wiped away her tears, sniffing.  
  


“Three of them held me against the wall while the others went to the children. They wouldn’t tell me what was going on. They just said it was police business, and my own bloody fault. I knew what was going on when they carried Michael and Anna downstairs. They were telling them that- that they were going to a better family. To someone who could actually take care of them. So I started screaming and fighting. But I was weak and tired. And they were three, strong policemen who were pinning me against the brick wall.”  
  


“Jesus bloody Christ.” John said softly.  
  


“They were with six or seven. I don’t really know. But two of them put my babies on the couch while the others-” Polly seemed to choke. “The others ripped my gown off of my body and threw me down the stairs.”  
  


“Y-You don’t have to tell us, Polly.” Ada whimpered, tears in her eyes. They all had. They knew what was coming next. Polly ignored them.  
  


“The coppers forced my children to watch while they pulled me up by my hair and bent me over the table. I- I knew what they were going to do. It’d happened to me multiple times. But never like that. Not with groups. They took me _everywhere._ Fucking me into the table and crushing my ribs with their weight. They went on and on and many at a time and I let them because I hoped that if I obeyed them, they would allow me to keep my children. I- I… I should have known better. When they finished, the threw me on the stairs and I could barely get up. But I did, bleeding and ready to just fucking pass out. I saw them. My babies. Screaming for me and crying. And I ran. I ran as fast as I could and punched a whole lot of the coppers. But I was weak.”  
  


Polly’s voice cracked. “I was weak.”  
  


Ada was openly crying now, and John had turned a sickly green. Arthur and Thomas were staring, lost in thought. Their aunt. Their strong aunt Pol, had suffered like this because of a jealous neighbour. Because of fucking sheets and a barrel. The coppers had gang raped her just because they could. Because the thought they had power over her just because she was a woman.  
  


“No, Pol. You weren’t weak. You will always be strong.”  
  


Polly shook her head as she fell into Ada’s embrace, sobbing yet again. “I can still feel them.” She whimpered. “Moving in and out and- in and out and _in and out and-_ I can’t get it out of my head. I still wake up screaming for them to let them go. To please stop.”  
  


The brunette’s sobs made it almost inaudible but they all knew what she meant. It had been the most traumatizing day in her life. In the 37 years the aunt had lived, she had been through much. Too much. But Ada, now a mother herself. And John, a father of four, both couldn’t imagine having your children being taken away and then being defiled and humiliated in your own home.  
  


“Why did father never tell us?” Ada hissed, more to her brothers than to the woman in front of her. “Why would he do that to you, Pol?”  
  


“Because he thought I deserved it. Running away from your husband was worse than getting a divorce. And you know how much shame that brings on a family. Your dad, Arthur, hated me for daring to ruin his reputation.  For ruining the Shelby family name.” Polly smiled a bit. “You must have seen his face when I told him how well I was being treated and respected for being a Shelby while you were fighting. I thought he was going to punch me square in the jaw. Wish he did. I could have sent men after him just for daring to touch me.”  
  


“Pol?”  Arthur asked softly. “Don’t think you’re weak, okay? You’re the strongest of us all. The bloody heart of this family.”  
  


“It’s true.” Tommy said when he saw her sceptical look. “Without you, we’d probably be dead already.”  
  


Ada laughed softly, wiping her tears. She pulled Polly from the couch and hugged her tightly, the rest following immediately. The Shelby aunt let herself be held as tears formed again.  
  


“Thank you for common sense, Polly.” Ada whispered. Polly couldn’t help but let out a teary laugh. She pulled everyone closer, placing her head in the crook of John’s neck.  
  


They stood like that for quite a while. It would have been longer had there not been a knock at the door. The Shelbys shared a look before Tommy drew his gun and  walked downstairs.  
  


Polly stayed where she was, eyes trained on the direction of the door. When two sets of feet climbed up the stairs, she felt her airway constrict. Whoever it was, they couldn’t see her like this, So vulnerable and _weak.  
  
_

But she didn’t know the young man who was currently in front of her. Tommy stood next to him with a smug smile.  
  


“Thomas?” She asked, arms folding over her middle. “Who’s this?”  
  


“This, Pollyanna. Is Michael Gray.” Polly took a sharp intake of breath. “Seems like he wanted to see you as much as you wanted to see him.”  
  


Pol just stood there, staring at her not-so-little boy. He smiled sheepishly, cap in his hands in front of him.  
  


“Hello mum.” He said with a shrug. She could see the excitement in his beautiful eyes. The eyes that she had stared in so many times those five years.  
  


“Michael.” She whispered, taking a timid step forwards. “I-Is it really you?”  
  


“Yes, Pol.” Tommy smiled, hands in his pockets. “It’s your boy.”  
  


Tears of happiness came to her then, and gods she really ought to stop crying. But right now she didn’t care. Her little boy was back. He was back and he had come to her. He looked so _happy._ She must be, too.  
  


And God be with her,  
  


She was.

**Author's Note:**

> The spacing is a bit weird because I originally wrote it on word, so please excuse me for that. Also, if you noticed any mistakes, please let me know! English is not my native language.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
